The politics of Pernambuco is the direction of Pernambuco's territory and the determination of the powers that make up its government structure. It is governed by three branches, the executive, the legislative, and the judiciary, and its current constitution was enacted on October 5, 1989; the first constitution was enacted in 1891 and after that there were three others.
The executive power has as central figures the governor, who is elected to office by direct vote and has a four-year term with the right to one reelection and a vice-governor, the latter taking over the functions of the former when it's unable to exercise them for any reason; currently the positions are held by Raquel Lyra (PSDB) and Priscila Krause (Cidadania). The legislative branch is represented by the Legislative Assembly of Pernambuco (Assembleia Legislativa de Pernambuco - Alepe), which has 49 state deputies, elected every four years, whose main function is to analyze and vote on bills at the state level; the current president of Alepe is Eriberto Medeiros. The judiciary is represented by the Court of Justice of Pernambuco (Tribunal de Justiça de Pernambuco - TJPE), and its main function is to make judgments based on state laws. The court has 52 judges and is currently presided over by Adalberto de Oliveira Melo.
The symbols that represent Pernambuco are the flag, the coat of arms, and the anthem; and they symbolize its history and identity. The flag was based on the one utilized during the Pernambucan Revolution of 1817, in which the Pernambucans fought for the state's independence from the Portuguese Crown. The coat of arms has in its symbolism several elements that can be related to the history of Pernambuco, and the anthem is an exaltation of the conquests and the past of the Pernambucan people.
History
First years
At the beginning of Brazil's colonization in 1530, King John III of Portugal (r. 1521–1557) divided the territory into hereditary captaincies The first donee of the Captaincy of Pernambuco was Duarte Coelho, who took possession of it in 1535 and named it "Nova Lusitânia" It became the richest in Brazil, due to the production of sugarcane, and was also the state responsible for more than half of Brazil's sugarcane exports. Speaking about the center of the colonial economy, Father Fernão Cardim said that "in Pernambuco one finds more vanity than in Lisbon", an opulence that seemed to derive, as suggested by Gabriel Soares de Sousa in 1587, from the fact that, at the time, the captaincy was "so powerful (...) that there are more than one hundred men in it who have from 1,000 to 5,000 cruzados of income, and some from 8,000 to 10,000 cruzados. From this land many rich men came out to these kingdoms that were very poor". Around the beginning of the 17th century, the Capitaincy of Pernambuco was the largest and richest sugar-producing area in the world.
During the Dutch invasions in Brazil (1630–1654), the city of Recife (Mauritsstad) was the capital of the Dutch possessions in Portuguese America, called New Holland. When Count Maurice of Nassau, administrator of the Dutch domains, landed in New Holland on January 23, 1637, he was with artists and intellectuals such as the painter Frans Post and the humanist Elias Herckmans, along with 350 soldiers. Nassau's government in Pernambuco had as its main actions the investments in the infrastructure of Recife, the establishment of the political alliance with the sugarmill lords by increasing the sugar production and the reducing the taxes levied on them, establishing religious freedom. After the end of Maurice's government in 1644, the harmonious climate between the Dutch and the sugarmill lords ceased to exist, and the latter began to act to expel them, which was achieved with the Pernambuco Insurrection of 1654.
Revolts that occurred in Pernambuco One of Pernambuco's best-known historical facts is that it has been the scene of several revolts, among which the most prominent are the Mascate War (1710–1711), the Pernambuco Revolution (1817), the Confederation of the Equator (1824).
Mascate War After the Dutch invasion, many merchants from Portugal - pejoratively called "mascates" - settled in Recife, bringing prosperity to the town. Its development was viewed with suspicion by the Olindenses, largely economically struggling sugarmill lords. As Recife, at the time subordinate to Olinda, grew in importance, the merchants began to claim their political-administrative autonomy, seeking to free themselves from Olinda and the authority of its City Council.
In 1709, Recife officially became independent from Olinda, which left the sugarmill landlords unhappy. After many fights between the Olindenses and Recifenses, the ruler Félix José de Mendonça became responsible for putting an end to this conflict, and did so in 1711, when he stipulated the imprisonment of all the Olindense landlords involved in the war and equalized the two cities politically. In 1714, Recife became the capital of Pernambuco.
Pernambucan Revolution
The so-called Pernambucan Revolution, also known as "Father's Revolution", was an emancipationist movement that broke out on March 6, 1817. Among its causes were the influence of the Enlightenment ideas propagated by Masonic societies, Portuguese monarchical absolutism, and the enormous expenses of the royal family and its entourage newly arrived in Brazil. The Pernambuco government was obliged to send to Rio de Janeiro large sums of money to fund salaries, food, clothing, and court parties, which made it difficult to face local problems (such as the drought that occurred in 1816), generating great discontent among the Pernambucan and Brazilian people. In addition to Pernambuco, the Revolution was joined by the states of Paraíba and Rio Grande do Norte, each of which got a star on the flag of the revolution.
Even though it lasted only 74 days, the Pernambucan Revolution was the only emancipationist movement of the period of Portuguese domination that went beyond the conspiratorial phase and reached the revolutionary process of seizing power. The Pernambucan Revolution left a strong legacy in the history of Pernambuco, being a movement that marks the identity of the state, one of the main proofs of this being its current flag.
Confederation of the Equator The Confederation of the Equator was a revolutionary movement, of emancipationist and republican nature, which represented the main reaction against the absolutist tendency and the centralizing policy of Pedro I's government (r. 1822–1831), outlined in the Constitution of 1824, Brazil's first constitution. Pernambuco did not accept it, and Manuel de Carvalho Pais de Andrade, president of the province, proclaimed the Confederation of the Equator, which united Pernambuco, Ceará and Rio Grande do Norte. The central objective was the creation of a sovereign state separate from the empire, with sovereignty and autonomy of the confederated provinces. The movement also included the participation of Cipriano Barata and had as its best-known figure Frei Caneca.
The central government, in Rio de Janeiro, carefully watched the development of the revolt and prepared from the beginning the repression. To this end, military force was used, organized and led by Brigadier Francisco de Lima e Silva, who headed the land forces, and Thomas Cochrane, an English mercenary who structured and commanded the naval offensive. In 1824, the rebels were arrested and Frei Caneca was sentenced to hang. However, faced with the executioner's refusal to carry out the sentence, he was eventually shot. Many other rebels received the same penalty, while a few others fled.
Recent history In the early years of the Brazilian Republic, Recife was still a very influential city: it was second in political-economic importance only to Rio de Janeiro. On July 26, 1930, the lawyer and politician João Pessoa, who had been that year a candidate for vice president on the ticket headed by Getúlio Vargas, was assassinated by João Duarte Dantas at the Glória Confectionery in Nova Street, downtown Recife. The crime was one of the triggers of the Revolution of 1930.
In 1966, there was a terrorist attack on General Arthur da Costa e Silva, candidate to the presidency of the republic, while he was landing at Guararapes Airport. There were dead and wounded, but the future president escaped, arriving in Recife by car from João Pessoa. As this was one of the main centers of action of the Military Regime, it was in the metropolis of Pernambuco that the "Diretas Já" movement began in 1983, which expanded throughout the country and was responsible for hastening the end of the dictatorship in Brazil.
Constitution The current Constitution of Pernambuco was enacted, later increased by changes resulting from constitutional amendments, on October 5, 1989, by the state constituent assembly. The first constitution was enacted on June 17, 1891, and after it three more (not counting the current one) were enacted in 1935, 1947, and 1967.
The president of the state constituent assembly was João Ferreira Lima Filho and the rapporteur of the constitution was Marcus Antonio Soares da Cunha. Other notable people who participated in the drafting of the constitution include: former governor and former minister of education Mendonça Filho, former president of the Chamber of Deputies Severino Cavalcanti, and João Lyra Filho, who is the father of former governor João Lyra Neto and grandfather of the current governor, Raquel Lyra.
On November 20, 2014, in commemoration of the 25th anniversary of Pernambuco's constitution, Alepe honored with medals the deputies who were part of the constituent assembly and two public servants who participated in the drafting of the document. The commendation of the tribute was created through Resolution No. 1,268, October 8, 2014; the commission responsible for organizing the solemnity was chaired by André Campos, and included the participation of Raquel Lyra and Tony Gel.
Government structure
Executive
Pernambuco's executive power has as its most important figure the governor, who is elected by the population in universal suffrage, through direct and secret ballot, every four years, and an incumbent governor can be reelected for another term.
Its headquarters, since 1841, is the Campo das Princesas Palace, located in Recife and built by the engineer Morais Âncora at the behest of the governor Francisco do Rego Barros. Idealized since 1786, the palace has this name due to a visit of the emperor Pedro II (r. 1831–1889) and his family, being initially a tribute of the people to the emperor's daughters and an expression of sympathy for the imperial family. In 1967, during the government of Nilo Coelho, and the presidency of Arthur da Costa e Silva, the palace was used as the seat of the federal government.
The governor has the following administrative functions:Chapter III, Section II - article 37
sanction or veto bills; appoint and/or dismiss secretaries, heads of state-maintained autarchies and foundations, advisors to the Court of Accounts, state attorney general, justice attorney general, chief of the Civil Police, commander of the Military Police, commander of the Military Fire Department, and general administrator of the Fernando de Noronha State District (the latter with the approval of the Legislative Assembly);Items VII, IX through XII, XIV and XVI decree and execute intervention in municipalities; request federal intervention; send information on accountability, budget proposals, and any information requested by the legislative or judiciary powers; promote the creation of metropolitan regions; to summon, extraordinarily, the Legislative Assembly; awarding decorations and honorary distinctions.